Improved chute for water-wheels



UNITED *STATES PATENT OFFTCE.

OHAUNOEY B. IVHITNEY, OF ITHACA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO PHILLIP OASE, OFSAME PLACE.

IMPROVED CHUTEV FOR WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19,1 l5, dated January12, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAUNOEY B. WHIT- NEY, of the town vof Ithaca, inthe county of Tompkins and State of New York, have invented a new andImproved Tater-Wheel; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, inwhichi Figure I is a perspective view of the flume orwater-ehestcontaining the wheel. Fig. II is a perspective View of theWheel itself. on its shaft. Fig. III represents parts of the ume orWater-chest. Fig. IV represents essential parts of the wheel itself.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

The nature of my invention consists in the peculiar construction andcombination of my wheeland flume, as follows:

In Fig. I, A A A are the ties or wooden frame-Work that holds the iiumeor Waterchest together. B B are the boards or planking of the frame, andC O the entrance for the Water. It is closed or may be closed by anyconvenient gate. The Whole Water-chest may act as a bed-piece for thewheel or only the middle ties. D is the projecting portion of the shaftof the wheel, to which suitable mechanical means may be attached for thepurpose of using the power of the wheel. Although described as of wood,it is .contemplated to make the iiume or chest of iron; but in that casethe principle and purpose will be the same, and although the drawingsrrepresent the Wheel as having a perpendicular shaft it is not designedto limit the wheel to this nor to any other position.

Fig. II is aview of the Wheel out of its flume or water-chest. In it Eis the longerarmy or end of the shaft and the end to which attachmentsare made for the purpose of using the power of the Wheel, and F denotesthe other end of the shaft, which has in it a step. G is the Wheel onthe said shaft, and H is the surface of.the wheel which receives theaction and force of the water contained in the iiume or water-chest. I II are buckets of the wheel. .I is the outer rim of the wheel, made tofit accurately to the corresponding rim or circle attached to the fiumeor Waterchest. K is the central portion of the wheel and is designed tosupport the buckets and by means of the buckets the outer rim of thewheel andgive mechanical means of attaching the wheel to the shaft. Thered dotted lines show the direction of thel impinging current on theWheel, that it falls directly into the circular portion of the buckets.

By Fig. III it is designed to show the construction of the fiume orwater-chest more rninutely. In Fig. III, a is a transverse section ofthe fiume or water-chest. In it L L is the planking or sides of theWater-chest or fiume and M M the inner planking. The outer planking asto shape or size is of no particular moment; but the inner planking orcast-iron Wall (when made of iron) is in the form of a helix, so that alarger surface than the surface of the wheel is covered by water at theouter portion of the helix curve; but at the smaller orinner end of thehelix curve the water covers only the surface of the wheel. It will beparticularly noticed how this portion of the curve aids the intensity ofthe action of the Water. The dotted lines show the entrance and motionof the Water on the upper surface of. the wheel. Further, it Will beparticularly noticed that the helix curveis entirely above the uppersurface of the Wheel or surface on which the water acts. N is the shaft,andconnected Vwith it are the black dotted lines-representing the hub orcenter of the wheel,thev buckets and the rims of the Wheel, one on andpart of the Wheel and the other immovably attached to the flumeandiitted to the rim ofthe wheel. In Fig. III, b is a vertical sectionof the flume or water-chest at kright angles to the one justV described.In` it O is the entrance for the Water, and the' lines P P continuedfrom the entrance show the conchoidal or screw-shaped top or roof of thefiume or of the inner planking. As in the other ligure, N is thel shaftand G is the Wheel. It Will be particularly noticed that the .peculiarcurve allows of an ample entrance for the Water,that it narrows orapproaches the surface of the Wheel, curving at thezsameftime around theshaft of the wheel, and at the end or nearly at the end or one spiralrevolution, by an abrupt curve comes in contact With the surface of thewheel at theentrance O. The purpose of this curve is to hold the waterin contact with the wheel at the angle of impingement without a spacefor acounter current or tailings of the water. By Fig. III, b, theexternal view of the flume, is also shown represented by black dottedlines for the wheel and wheelshaft. As before, O is the entrance for thewater. The red dotted lines show the direction of the impinging currentbefore it enters the water-chest, and also in Fig. III, a, after itenters and is acting on the wheel.

By Fig. IV the minuter parts of the buckets are represented. Q is abucket detached from the wheel. The .side R is attached to the centerpiece of the wheel, which is marked as K in Fig. 1I. It will beperceived that the upper half of the bucket commences by a straightportion, which is intended to be parallel to the direction of theimpinging current. This is succeeded by.a circular portion, which gentlychanges intoalarger curve, and which larger curve becomes more expandedand is continued to the lower edge of the bucket. More particularly, Ris the side attached to the hub or center of the wheel, and S the sideof the bucket attached to the outer circumference or rim of the wheel,and T is the line of longitudinal section marked in red dotted lines.This last longitudinal section of the bucket (represented by the dottedline T) is laid out on a scale at U. In it the space a is the straightportion of the upper edge of t-he bucket and occupies thirtyfive degreesof the circle, whose center is at ZJ; and c is the circular portion nextadjoining to the part ct, and said part c occupies eighty-seven degreesof the circle, whose center is at Z2; and CZ is the next succeedingportion and occupies fifteen degrees of the circle, whose center is ate; and f is the lower portion of the bucket and it occupies eight andone-half degrees of the circle, whose center is at g g. The edges of thebucket, both upper and lower, are rounded and made thinner than themiddle portions of the bucket. The purpose of this shape and thicknessis as follows: To receive the current of water and allow it to impingefully and freely on the part c, and reflect its action on the surfacescZ and f, and at the lower edge obtain the reaction of the water as itescapes from the wheel. V is a view of the upper surface of the wheel,showing the setting of the buckets in the wheel and the shape of theinlets of the water, and W is a view o1 the lower surface of the wheel,showing the lower setting of the lower edge of the buckets and the shapeand relation of the outlets of the water.

The mode of using the wheel is plain to any one familiar withwater-wheels.

It only remains to add a little more on the exact construction of thebucket of my wheel. First, the line g b is laid out or drawn fortyfourunits or parts long. This unit or part is found by dividing the diameterof the wheel into any of the well-known parts. Say the wheel isthirty-four inches in diameter. An inch, for example, can be a unit orpart.v So of any other given length. Now mark one end of the line as gand the other as b. Let g be the center of the angle b g e, which angleshall measure about four degrees. Draw the line g e thirty-eight partsor units long from g. By the line e b from the center b make the angle gb e about seventeen degrees. The line b e should be six parts or unitslong. In order to be sure that t-he triangle g b e is correctly drawn,drop a line from e at right angles to g b upon said line g b. This linee h should be two units or parts long. Bisect the line e b at t' so thatthe part e t' shall be two and three-fourths units or parts in lengthand the part i b shall be three and one-fourth units or parts long. Thedata for laying out a bucket is now complete. Now from the center h witha radius of two and three-fourths parts describe a circle. From thepoint i draw a line three units or parts long and touching the circleabout the center b atj. Bisect the line j at one and one-half unit orpart from j and mark it as k. Then kj is the upper part of the bucket orthe first portion. center e describe a portion of a circle touching thecircle about b. The two curves will touch at Z. The portion j Z is thesecond part of the bucket. Next around the center g draw a portion of acircle touching the circle drawn about e at m. From g drop the line g nforty-seven units or parts in length, when it should meet the curvedescribed from the center g. Make the line b n nine units or parts long.Cause the lines g u and Z9 n and the curve described from g to meet atthe point n. The point n is the lower edge of the bucket, and the curvem n is the fourth portion of the bucket, while the curve Z m is thethird portion. Thus Athe inner part of the bucket is laid out. Gentlyblend the curves at the pointsj and Z and in and n and make the outerline of the bucket to correspond, as represented by the line it 0 p q.

Although thus particular in the description, it is not meant that theuseful principles involved are invalidated by a deviation somewhattherefrom. The proof-line 7.; n is ten and one-half units or parts long.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Therdouble helix or scroll or curved funnel-shaped fiume or water-chest,when combined with the described bucket in the said water-wheel.

Ithaca, September 11, 1855.

h1 cHAUNoEY B. s WHITNEY.

mark Witnesses:

SAMUEL J. PARKER, CALEB B. BRAKE.

From the l

